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The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced three cases of the new coronavirus at a Farmington nursing home Wednesday, making it the sixth location of an outbreak at a long-term care facility.
The virus has been detected in one resident and two staff members at the Edgewood Rehabilitation & Living Center, Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah said. The facility has 33 beds and is run by North Country Associates, which also operates the Commons at Tall Pines in Belfast. That facility has had an outbreak for weeks, and had seen 40 total cases and 10 deaths as of Wednesday.
[Our COVID-19 tracker contains the most recent information on Maine cases by county]
The addition of the Edgewood facility makes six long-term care and facilities in the state that have seen an outbreak, with 123 residents and 67 staff members infected, Shah said. The most cases have been associated with the Augusta Center for Health and Rehabilitation, with 74 total cases. The cases associated with the long-term care facilities account for more than a fifth of Maine’s confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
Residents at the centers are particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus because they are elderly and the virus can spread quickly in congregate settings. An outbreak is considered to be when a facility sees three or more cases.
Shah said Wednesday that the state sent Edgewood testing materials for its residents and staff as soon as it learned of the outbreak, per state protocol. He said those results of those tests were being sent to the CDC’s laboratory Wednesday afternoon.
The virus is present in all 16 counties in Maine and 907 cases and 39 deaths have been recorded as of Wednesday. Outbreaks at facilities have also occurred at the following places:
— The Augusta Center for Health and Rehabilitation, which has recorded 74 total cases;
— the assisted living facility at The Cedars retirement community in Portland, which has 11 total cases;
—the Maine Veterans’ Homes facility in Scarborough, which has 47 cases and has seen five deaths; and
— Falmouth by the Sea in Falmouth, which has 15 total cases.
Shah also confirmed that an outbreak has occurred at the John F. Murphy Homes in Auburn, a network of group homes that serve adults with developmental disabilities and autism. He said there are three cases associated with the facility, in one resident and two staff members.
Watch: Maine CDC press conference, April 22
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